


Don't Call Me Princess

by EBTreadway



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 04:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5991250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EBTreadway/pseuds/EBTreadway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What might cause Batman to decide that his reasons for not pursuing a relationship with Wonder Woman don't matter anymore?  What might they decide to do about that?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Call Me Princess

"Diana, no!! DIANA!!"  
  
Batman's shriek still hung in the air as Superman and Martian Manhunter restrained the Dark Knight from following Wonder Woman into the heart of the maelstrom in the air before them. It continued its cycle through blinding colors, red to yellow to green to blue.  
  
Martian Manhunter shouted over the noise of the vortex, "Can you see anything?"  
  
"Nothing!" Superman shouted back. "Can you sense her?"  
  
"No!"  
  
Batman sagged abruptly, no longer fighting to get loose. Suddenly the vortex turned blinding white, stuttered a few times, and exploded. Wonder Woman hurtled out of it, dazed, slammed full into Batman, and catapulted them both with a bone-jarring crunch against the cliff face behind. Batman hit spread-eagled, with Wonder Woman against his chest, and without thinking he flung his arms around her, dropping his cowled cheek on top of her head as wreckage and boulders bounced around them.  
  
"Diana, can you hear me? Are you all right?" He could feel her nod against his chest as her knees started to loosen. He eased her down to the ground as the rest of the team came running up. J'onn dropped to one knee on Diana's other side, looking at the huge jagged gash that ran the length of her arm. Superman heaved a sigh of relief that ruffled Batman's cape, but then folded his arms, asking sternly, "What were you thinking, Diana? You could have been killed."  
  
She raised her head. "No, I knew my bracelets would reverse the polarity, but there wasn't time to explain it. I had to just go before the next cycle began."  
  
Green Lantern frowned as well. "That was still dangerous, princess." She scowled up at him.  
  
No one had noticed Flash departing, but he zoomed back up, announced, "All clear," and handed a length of bandage to J'onn to begin wrapping around Wonder Woman's arm. Superman seemed to finally take in the scene before him: Batman had not moved from his position on his knees beside Wonder Woman, still holding her tight against him, his head still resting on hers. Their eyes met, and Batman's narrowed in warning. Superman turned to the others and announced, "Let's head back to the Watchtower. Bruce and Diana can follow us, and we can debrief this operation later."  
  
Superman stepped away and lifted off, followed by Martian Manhunter. Green Lantern looked as though he still had some things he wanted to say, but also stepped back, pointed his power ring at Flash, and they lifted into the sky as well.  
  
Once the rest of the team was a bright point in the sky, Wonder Woman let her head drop against Batman's shoulder. "Oh that sounds like fun. Sitting in the situation room while Clark and John chew on me all night for actually getting the job done."  
  
He drew in an unsteady breath. "So let's not go." He shifted away from her, so that he could see her face. "Let me take you to Wayne Manor tonight. You can get some rest instead of getting chewed on, and I want Alfred to look at your arm."  
  
Her eyes twinkled a bit. "It might raise a few eyebrows on the Watchtower if we don't show up."  
  
"I think some eyebrows will raise even if we do." His chin lifted as he gazed off into the distance, the brooding thousand-yard stare so very typical. "I'm not sure I care."  
  
"What, about what the team would say if we were together?"  
  
"That either." He settled an arm around her waist and gently lifted her to her feet. "Let's go."

  
  
  


Alfred met them a few steps inside the grand front doors of Wayne Manor. He had a bowl of hot water in his arms, an assortment of towels and bandages draped over his shoulder, and several bottles of antiseptic sticking out of his pockets. "Good evening, Your Highness, Master Bruce. If you'll both please follow me to the kitchen?"  
  
Half an hour later, the wound on Diana's arm had been cleaned, along with several other previously unnoticed contusions, and pronounced well on the way to healed, courtesy of her Amazon physiology. Bruce had been coerced into removing cape, cowl and upper body armor so that Alfred could check him over as well and pronounce him fit. His eyes twinkled at Diana as he did this. "He's absolutely dishonest, Your Highness. He will deliberately fail to mention injuries, knowing that by the time I find the bloodstains on the bat suit, it's far too late to chastise him."  
  
She laid a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "You are such a comfort. You've patched him up a thousand times, haven't you?"  
  
"It seems so, my lady, and I must say I'm delighted to have an opportunity to embarrass him instead. Now, if you'd care to rest a moment and finish your tea, I'll draw you a hot bath upstairs. Your rooms adjoin Master Bruce's, and if both of you will leave your costumes outside your doors, I shall once again undertake bloodstain removal."

 

Diana sank gratefully into the bubble-filled tub and allowed the hot water to relax both body and mind. Presently there was a light tapping on the door. She called out, "Come in." The door opened ever so slightly and Bruce leaned his head in, eyes closed. "Are you all right in here?"  
  
She laughed. "I'm fine, you can open your eyes."  
  
He did so, first smiling and then serious. "Alfred's going to bring us up some food. When you're done soaking, we can eat. And.. and we need to talk."  
  
Diana emerged from the bathroom some time later, swathed in a fluffy white bathrobe with a gold W embroidered on it, and saw Bruce, damp-haired and dressed in a pair of white silk pajama bottoms, sitting in a gilt chair, next to a table laden with covered dishes. He indicated the other chair, and she sat, wincing as she raised her arms to wrap her towel around her hair. He stood and held his hand out for the towel. She handed it over, and he stepped around behind her chair and began to towel her hair dry. She tensed at first, then slowly relaxed as his hands moved deftly through her hair, lifting it lock by lock and gently pressing the water out with the towel. Then he selected a comb from a nearby dresser and began to comb out the tangles, using his fingers as much as the comb. Completely relaxed now, she made a contented sound. "That is so soothing."  
  
In response he laid a hand on her head for a moment before resuming his ministrations. Finished, he gathered all of her voluminous hair in his hands and spread it across her shoulders, admiring the light running through it as it slid though his hands. Then, gathering his resolve, he laid the comb on the table and walked around to sit on the end of the bed directly facing Diana. He sat for a moment, elbows on knees, head hanging down, then he finally blurted out, "What were you thinking today?"  
  
She sat up in her chair. "Pardon?"  
  
He ran his hands through his hair. "Did you think about what would have happened if your bracelets had failed to reverse the polarity? Did it occur to you that the ion flux inside that vortex would have killed you?"  
  
She frowned at him. "Yes, but it also occurred to me that the next cycle would have expanded the vortex to engulf the entire planet. That's our job, we protect the innocent. It worked."  
  
"But at what cost? Don't you remember watching Clark vanish in a flash of light? Didn't you think what it would be like for us, watching you disappearing into that swirling nightmare?" At last he raised his head, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears searching her face. "What it would do to me?"  
  
Her eyes began to fill as well, and she reached out a hand toward him. "Bruce…"  
  
"No, please, let me get it said. I have too many regrets already. As I watched helplessly today, screaming your name, still standing only because Clark and J'onn were holding me up, I realized I didn't want to regret never having told you the truth."  
  
He slid off the bed, onto his knees at her feet. "Diana, I love you. You're the first person I want to see when I wake and the last person I want to see before I sleep. I think I've loved you ever since I tried to dig you out from under a missile in Gorilla City. With every fiber of my being I want to be with you. I can see all the dangers in that, for you, for the team, for the people we're sworn to protect. But the thought of losing you today was one time too many, and I don't care. I don't care about any of the reasons why we shouldn't be together, I just don't care. I'm sorry. I know that's unspeakably selfish. I don't expect you to feel the same way." His head bowed forward until his chin rested on his chest.  
  
She slid a hand under his chin and turned his face up to hers. "Choosing love instead of fear and isolation is not selfish." She reached down, found his hands and stood, pulling him to his feet. "Bruce, I love you too, and I have wanted to be with you for a long time."  
  
Still holding his hands, she led him over to sit beside her on the bed. "We can talk about how to handle our rogues' galleries, about how to handle the team, the world, whomever. We'll come up with something for all of it. After all, we are superheroes." She leaned in and lightly touched her lips to his. He broke the kiss first, a look of stunned wonder on his face, then placing a hand behind her back drew her in for a longer, stronger kiss. This time she leaned back first, breathing hard, and slowly loosened the tie of her bathrobe, her eyes on his. He reached out to grasp the lapel of the bathrobe, and they both saw his hand tremble before he withdrew it quickly.  
  
"Bruce, what's wrong?"  
  
He was breathing hard as well. "You're still a princess from a society of immortal warriors, and I'm still just a rich kid with issues." He spread his hands and shrugged. "I'm nervous."  
  
She laid a hand on his cheek. "You aren't just anything. You've fought beside me and for me. You've even sung in public for me." He leaned his face into her hand, turning his head to kiss her palm. "Besides," she continued, folding her arms around her waist, "I'm nervous too. I've never done this before; how's that going to compare to all the beautiful women who've been on Bruce Wayne's arm?"  
  
"And you assume that because they've been on Bruce Wayne's arm, that they've also been in Batman's bed? Not nearly as often as I want the world to think. Nobody's been in my mind." He took her hands and pressed her palms against his chest, so she could feel his heartbeat. "Or in my heart, forever. Always, princess, only you."  
  
At the same time they reached to wipe each other's tears and came together for the kiss that was the origin story, the kiss that blotted out vengeance and the night and man's world.

 

The sunlight pouring through the window touched Diana's eyelids, and she stretched and woke with a smile. It changed to puzzlement as she looked around the room and saw the broken chair, the leaning table, the torn comforter, the pillow-feathers floating idly, the lopsidedly hanging curtains. Puzzlement changed to horror as she looked beside her in the bed and saw Bruce, blood staining the sheets under his sleeping form, a split lip and a magnificent black eye. She leaped from the bed, looking wildly around to assess the threat, and the movement woke Bruce, who yawned and stretched out his arm toward her, but on seeing her panicked look, he climbed out of bed and hurried to her side, asking "What's wrong?"  
  
She flung out her arms to indicate the disorder. "The furniture! Those scratches on your back, your eye!"  
  
"Well," he laughed gently, cupping her face in his hands, "you are a bit stronger than I am, princess. Amazon warrior and all."  
  
She buried her face in her hands and for a moment he couldn't tell whether she was laughing or crying. "Oh sweet Hera. I'm so sorry. I imagine neither you nor Alfred will ever want me as a houseguest again."  
  
"Actually, I think I did that to the pillows - and the chair. And Alfred's already been in, look." He indicated a pair of trays on the dresser, one containing breakfast and another with an assortment of first aid supplies.  
  
"Well, rich kid," she said, picking up some gauze and antiseptic, "your turn."

 

Batman and Wonder Woman returned to the Watchtower later that morning, heads high and faces impassive, striding in perfect sync down the hall to the situation room. Superman and Green Lantern met them coming the other direction, and Green Lantern started in as soon as he saw them.  
  
"We had planned to debrief first thing this morning, where have you two been? You particularly need to be there, princess, breaking team like that. I can't wait to hear what you were thinking."  
  
Batman and Wonder Woman swept imperiously past them side by side, and their teammates hurriedly stood back. As she passed, Wonder Woman said smoothly, with the barest flicker of a sideways glance, "Don't call me princess."  
  
They continued side by side around the corner, leaving Superman and Green Lantern to stare first after them and then at each other.  
  
Superman cocked a thumb after the retreating pair. "What's with them?"  
  
Green Lantern frowned. "You don't think that… that they're… that they…?"  
  
"No. No way. Impossible."  
  
Flash zoomed up, slapped them both on the back. "So, the Bat and the babe, huh??" Next moment he was gone in a streak of red and yellow.


End file.
